Rodney Glassman dances with his wife, Sasha, during an election-night party at The Maverick nightclub while waiting for the returns.

KELLY PRESNELL / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

In the end, Sen. John McCain's prediction earlier this week that
former Congressman J.D. Hayworth's campaign was "deader than
Elvis," wasn't entirely an overstatement.

The state's highest-profile incumbent handily beat back his two
GOP challengers who tried to derail his fifth term, closing in on
nearly 58 percent of the vote, to Hayworth's 31 percent and
tea-party activist Jim Deakin's 11 percent.

The former presidential contender will face former Tucson City
Councilman Rodney Glassman, whose decisive showing in Pima County
was helping him come out on top in a four-way Democratic primary
race.

At midnight, with more than 80 percent of the vote counted,
Glassman drew 34 percent of the vote, compared with former state
lawmaker Cathy Eden's second-place showing of 27 percent. Former
investigative journalist John Dougherty pulled 23 percent, while
labor organizer Randy Parraz had 13 percent.

Glassman's supporters were whooping it up at The Maverick, a
staple in Tucson's country music scene.

Glassman's spokesman, Blake Morlock, said the site was selected
because of its place in Southern Arizona folklore - not necessarily
a chance to needle McCain, who at various points has embraced and
rejected the moniker.

Glassman said his stint on the City Council taught him the value
of constituent services and consensus building - strengths that
will help him in his focus on jobs and education.

He said McCain, despite his strong showing, is vulnerable. "For
28 years John McCain has built a political career off of what he
doesn't do for Arizona," he said, alluding to McCain's refusal to
work for earmarks for public works projects.

For his part, McCain, clearly sensing an anti-incumbent
sentiment at play, worked at a frenetic pace to shore up support
with voters who felt he'd abandoned the state during his
presidential run, or that he had forsaken conservative principles
along the way.

McCain held a whopping 37 town halls this year, and drummed up
social media circles. But what voters probably most noted was the
$21 million he poured into the race. Ultimately, Hayworth was
buried under a deluge of ads that attacked him on everything from
gaffes on the campaign trail, to his short stint as a lobbyist to
his role as a "huckster" in an infomercial offering "free"
government money.

Still, as hard-hitting as the primary was, McCain struck a
conciliatory tone in his victory speech, saying both of his
opponents deserved credit for having the courage to enter the
political arena. Then he refocused on challenging the course of the
Obama administration.

"This will be a consequential election," he said at his Phoenix
election night rally, well before the 10 p.m. news cycle. Saying
the country is groaning under high unemployment and red ink, he
said, "No one is satisfied with the current condition of our
country."

He predicted the GOP will take both the Senate and House in
November - and will ratchet back spending, secure the borders and
"repeal and replace Obamacare."

Hayworth, for his part, continued to draw exuberant crowds until
the end. On Friday night, he made a last-minute pitch to about 300
supporters on Tucson's east side, who snacked on sandwiches and
fruit as Hayworth said McCain was trying to buy the race. He
charged that while McCain went to Washington to change it, it ended
up changing him. Still, Hayworth called on his supporters to "move
forward" for the general election.

It was the money and the message that made a difference in
McCain's win, pollster Bruce Merrill said. "McCain had some
hard-hitting ads, calling Hayworth a con man and a lobbyist. People
do that kind of advertising because it does work. People remember
negative things."

Republican pollster Margaret Kenski said she wasn't convinced it
was necessary for McCain to spend that much. "People know John
McCain. He's won handily before, and meanwhile, voters remember the
ads calling J.D. a lobbyist - and that runs counter to what he
claimed to stand for."

On the Democratic side, Glassman was helped by having more money
than all of his challengers combined, and was in the race the
longest.

Kenski said McCain should make short work of Glassman. "He's
young, he's dynamic, but even with this anti-incumbent mood out
there, voters are going to think it's too much, too fast."

But pollster Merrill said it would be premature to dismiss the
chances of the Democratic candidate.

Merrill draws a parallel to 1976, which featured a bruising
primary between Republican Congressmen Sam Steiger and John Conlan
for the Senate seat. Steiger won but was left so wounded that the
rift helped propel Dennis DeConcini to the Senate.

Although some of Tuesday's primary races remained too close to call, here's a first look at major face-offs in Arizona's general election: McCain vs. Glassman for Senate; Kelly vs. Giffords in the 8th Congressional District, and Brewer vs. Goddard for governor.